Out in the Cold
by hyperpsychomaniac
Summary: The Hyperion runs out of power. Mahad and Dahlia end up stuck on a block of ice with no power, and no radio contact. Then they forget where they parked the ship... and the weather's getting worse...


**A/n:** Yay! There's finally a Skyland section on fanfictionnet. Alright, so I wrote this awhile back, but now I can finally post it up here. I hope people enjoy. Reviews and concrit are appreciated.

* * *

**Out in the Cold**

"How could you let your power cell run down, Mahad! Don't you check your readings before you go flying off?!"

"It hasn't been six months yet!"

"Okay…" Dahlia faced Mahad across the cockpit of the Hyperion, "are you saying you haven't changed the power cells since you got the Hyperion…"

"Yeah… at pilot school we got taught you only need to check them every six months…"

"Did you think that maybe since the Hyperion hadn't been used for years that they just might have been in there for _more than six months_!?"

Mahad's eyes widened in realisation. "Yeah… well, I can't think of everything! I was flying! You weren't. Don't you think you would've noticed a little 'power cells low' light?"

"Urgh!!" Dahlia slammed her fists on the Hyperion's console.

"Hey! Careful!"

"Okay… we're stuck on a block of ice. We have no power to take off. Let's try the radio."

"Right…" Mahad poked his console. The radio crackled at him. "Hello? Can anyone hear me, come in…" He threw his hands in the air. "It's just static."

"Just great. I'll take a hand radio outside and see if I can get better reception." Dahlia grabbed the radio from her side and opened the hatch. A flurry of snow and ice rushed inside.

"Sure you can handle the weather?"

Dahlia glared back at him, shielding the snow from her face. "I'll be just fine. But keep some lights on. If the visibility gets to low I don't want to get lost."

Mahad snorted. "It's not snowing _that_ much!"

"Just keep them on," growled Dahlia before slamming the hatch behind her.

Mahad kept watching her as she walked across the hull of the ship then jumped off the edge of the engine. He sighed and folded his arms, looking out the front window. The visibility _was _a little low. A part of him wanted to not have to sit in the ship like a kid and do nothing. But the last time they'd been stuck on an ice block together, and he'd stuck his head out he'd probably been the cause of Dahlia falling off the ship and into a ravine. Still, he had rescued her. And the situation they were in now wasn't as dangerous.

He flicked through the radio again. He couldn't even pick up a commercial channel, let alone contact Puerto Angel.

Mahad sighed and leaned back in his chair. He'd have to wait for Dahlia to return. "Boring…" he grumbled. He stared out the front window, watching the snow flurry across the front of the ship.

Fifteen minutes later, Dahlia wasn't back. "What's taking her so long…" Mahad wondered. He looked out the front window again. If he wasn't mistaken, the front of the Hyperion had been easier to see a few minutes ago. The weather was getting worse. He turned up the lights inside. Perhaps she was having trouble seeing them.

Two minutes later, he couldn't stay in his seat any longer.

"Dahlia!" he yelled out the open hatch. The wind blew his voice back at him. "What's taking her so long?" He stepped out of the cockpit and slammed the hatch. "Dahlia!" He checked behind him quickly. The ship would be easy to find again with the lights on. He walked to the edge of the engine and jumped off. "Dahl… oof!" And sunk up to his knees in a snow drift. "Ah… cold…" he grumbled, pulling himself out. He'd better find her quickly, it was freezing outside. He picked his way carefully through the snow, looking ahead for any sign of Dahlia.

----

"Hello? Hello!" Dahlia shook the radio again then paced up and down. "Can anyone hear me!!! Stupid… urgh!" She threw the device in the snow in exasperation. It simply sunk in. She walked over and picked it back up. "Maybe we'll have to wait for the weather to improve…" She didn't like that idea. If the Hyperion's power cell was really run down they might have trouble keeping even the heating running. They could probably turn off the lights and conserve power. She rolled her eyes. Mahad was sure to have something smart to say about that. So long as he kept to himself, she could deal with it.

Dahlia climbed on top of a rock nearby and shielded her eyes, looking in the direction where she'd come from. The Hyperion's lights were somewhere over there. Something moving through the snow caught her attention first.

"Dahlia!"

Dahlia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Mahad! I told you to stay in the Hyperion!" She jumped off the rock and walked towards him through the snow.

"You were taking too long! For all I know you could've been eaten by some snow beast! Like… a polar bear!"

"Mahad, they're extinct. I'm fine, alright! You needed to stay back and keep the lights on."

"I did! They can keep themselves on. Well, for fifteen minutes anyway…"

"What?"

"They turn off by themselves after fifteen minutes when the power's too low."

Dahlia just stared at him.

"Relax! They'll still be on."

Dahlia ignored him, staring past him. "Then how come I can't see them…"

Mahad looked back over his shoulder. "You're not looking hard enough…"

"Well?"

"Maybe… I must've forgotten to reset them before I left…"

"Mahad!"

"Relax! Just relax! I just came from there! I can find my way back. We'll… ah, we'll follow my footprints…" He began retracing his steps.

Dahlia folded her arms and followed after him. She would've yelled at him for being stupid, but he had the only idea for getting back. Yelling at him would waste more time. Time in which his footprints would be covered by the rapidly falling snow.

Time they didn't have in the first place. Mahad stopped within twenty feet.

"Mahad…?"

"The snow's covered my footprints…"

"Do you remember where you came? Any landmarks?"

"No!"

"Urgh!"

"Well, do you?"

"Yeah, the Hyperion's lights. Oh, wait, they're not there anymore! Some idiot let them turn off!"

"I'm sorry, okay!"

"Alright. Fine. We need to find shelter somewhere."

"What about looking for the Hyperion?"

"If we don't know where it is, it's almost hopeless to try finding it. And it's cold. I think it's going to get colder. We don't want to be stuck in the open when it does."

Mahad sighed. "Alright."

----

Twenty minutes later, they'd managed to locate a large over hanging rock out of the wind. It only provided shelter because of its position. But it was better than nothing and the wind was picking up.

Mahad plonked down behind it and rubbed his arms. "Sure we can't find something better?"

"I don't think so," replied Dahlia, sitting down next to him. "The 'berg looks pretty flat. This is the best shelter I've seen yet. And do you really want to keep looking?"

"Not really… at least there's no wind here."

"You still cold?"

Mahad snorted. "What do you think?"

"Well, I'd offer you my jacket, but…"

"You can't offer me your jacket!"

"Why not?"

"Because that's what _I'm _supposed to do… I think…"

"Well then, do you want to give me your jacket?"

"… no… I'm cold… Yours is probably warmer than mine anyway."

Dahlia thought for a moment. "Look, move closer to me."

"Huh?"

"It's cold. We need to share body heat to stay warmer."

"Oh… well, you didn't have to think up that excuse if you want to be close, Dahlia…"

"Urgh! And here I was thinking you were too cold to say something immature like that. Just get over here." She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him up next to her.

"Whoah…" Mahad wasn't ready. The motion only resulted in him tipping over and banging his head into Dahlia's.

"Ow! Watch it!"

"Jeesh! You're keen…"

"Oh, grow up! We have to do this or we're going to die!"

Mahad opened his mouth.

"And no 'how sweet, you'll die without me!' comments!" Dahlia interrupted before he could say anything.

"I _was_ going to ask if this'll save us or just buy us time."

Dahlia paused, looking at Mahad. "I don't know... but the more time we buy… the more chance we have of staying alive."

"Okay…" Mahad moved up next to Dahlia. "Um… "

"You think you'd be more ambitious the way you carry on…" Dahlia grumbled. She shivered. "You need to get closer, alright?"

"Yeah, okay…" Mahad drew up next to Dahlia and put his hand behind her head.

Dahlia grabbed his shoulder and put her leg over his. "_Don't_ put your hand there…"

"Sorry!" They continued to rearrange themselves until they were virtually on top of each other, their legs wrapped around the others.

They stopped, staring at each other.

"Warmer?" Dahlia finally asked, unnerved by Mahad staring at her.

"Um… my arm's cramping..."

"Urgh!"

"You're lying on it!"

"Then move it!"

"Alright, alright!" They rearranged themselves again.

"Okay, not sitting on anything you don't want to?" Dahlia asked, sounding exasperated.

"I'm good…"

"Good."

They sat like that for a few minutes. Dahlia could feel Mahad shaking up next to her. She was probably as well but she was more aware of him. "You warm enough?"

"… no…"

She felt him shift again, burying his head further away from the wind.

"This isn't working…"

"Keep still; you'll just dissipate body heat."

A flurry of snow whipped around the edge of the rock they were behind, bringing with it a sharp chill.

They both scrunched down further.

"The wind's changing…" Mahad said almost into his shirt.

"No it's not; it's just a gust…"

"We're going to die out here…"

The wind died down again.

"No, we're not. See, it's gone back around the rock."

"It's still cold."

Dahlia shifted her arm around Mahad's shoulder.

"Dahlia…?"

"Yeah…?"

Mahad shifted again. "It's just…"

Dahlia felt something poking her. "Um… Mahad? You're…"

"It's just my water bottle, I swear!"

"That is _not _a water bottle, Mahad!"

"Well, I'll move then, okay!?" Mahad shoved Dahlia away from himself and shifted over.

"Mahad!" growled Dahlia, tipping over into the snow.

Mahad crossed his arms and leaned back against the rocks, drawing his knees up into his chest.

"Will you stop being so immature!"

"You brought it up! I can't help it! I'm sorry…"

"Look, it doesn't matter…"

"Yes it does! We're going to die out here, Dahlia. And sitting on top of each other isn't going to change it. I'm sorry for getting us stuck on this block."

Dahlia shifted over closer to him. "Hey, we've been stuck on an iceberg before…"

"That was different. We were going to die because we decided we had to blow it up. This doesn't have a purpose, it's just because I was being an idiot. I'm sorry."

Dahlia sighed. "You didn't know we'd get stuck and you're not that much of an idiot. But it doesn't matter now. Right now, we've got to concentrate on keeping warm, okay?"

Mahad didn't make a move and just kept staring over his arms into the snow.

Dahlia bit back growling at him and instead put her arm around his shoulders. "It's not your fault okay, Mahad?"

Mahad just shivered and drew up closer to her.

----

She tried to stay awake but the cold was making her drowsy. They'd kept as close together as they could without further incident. But the cold was getting through and Dahlia was afraid that the drowsiness she was feeling could turn out more dangerous than just making her fall asleep.

"… Mahad…" She jiggled him slightly.

"Mmph…" said Mahad. "What…?"

"You awake?"

"No…"

"Me neither…" Dahlia felt her eyes drooping shut.

"Dahlia… Dahlia!" Mahad sounded half asleep, but his voice was slightly desperate.

"Huh…" She must've fallen asleep for a moment. She was feeling disorientated.

"There's a polar bear…"

Dahlia squinted out into the snow. "There're… no polar bears, Mahad…"

"Mm… there…"

The wind dropped slightly for a second and Dahlia could just make out a dark shape moving towards them.

"What do polar bears eat?" Mahad asked.

"I don't know… does it matter?" She felt her eyelids getting heavy again. She really didn't need to find out what they ate.

"Probably not…" mumbled Mahad and snuggled up closer to her.

Dahlia held him tighter. Then let her eyes shut. The last thing she saw was the dark shape steadily moving towards them.

----

"Wayan, bring the Saint Nazaire down, I've found them!"

"On it…" the radio crackled, fraught with static.

Cortes pushed through the snow to the two bodies curled up around each other. "Dahlia! Mahad!" Neither of them responded. Cortes dropped to his knees next to them and pressed two fingers against each of their necks. They were cold, but he could feel their heart rate beating steadily.

He sighed in relief and pulled off the heavy overcoat from his shoulders. The one Cheng had insisted he would need and he'd only actually brought when Cheng added that Dahlia and Mahad might need it. He put it over them now.

Behind him the Saint Nazaire came into view through the blizzard. Its ramp steadily moved towards the ground. It had been flying as low as it could in the wind behind him, staying within radio and just within visual contact.

"Are they alright?" Wayan's voice came over the radio again, slightly clearer.

"Yeah, but they're unconscious. Could you get down here and give me a hand?" Cortes tugged a corner of the overcoat so that it covered Dahlia better.

"I'll be right there."

They'd get them onto the Saint Nazaire, out of the cold. Then he could be sure they were safe. Cortes readjusted the overcoat over them again, and waited for Wayan to make it off the ship to help.


End file.
